April 12, 2009

We were laughing about this the other day: why would you ever throw Alfonso Soriano a strike?Why would you ever throw anything over the plate?Ever?Ball in the dirt three to six inches outside - that's a strike.Sometimes you can bounce the ball maybe 4 inches in front of the plate for a strike...Last night Carlos Villanueva picked the wrong time to throw one over the plate, and he paid with the game.Whoever the anncr was said it was supposed to be outside, that it was a mistake.But look at the replay.Looks to me like Villanueva woulda hit the catcher's mitt, which was maybe a tad outside and just above the knees.What were they thinking?Don't know, but I'll tell you what they were thinking afterwards: "We won't do THAT again."So how about Kosuke Fukudome?Looking kinda comfy in that 2 slot.The Marmol/Gregg thing, we'll be talking about that all year.Last night Marmol made Braun and Prince look semi-silly.But Lou always goes with the "hot hand", so I just think that'll be part of this season's never ending entertainment value.And tonight for your Easter Entertainment, tune into ESPN at 7:05 to see Ryan Dempster go for his first win.Tomorrow I'm scheduled for outdoor surgery.Homopenectomy.Crazy procedure - they make you wear rain gear since it's supposed to rain with a high of 44 degrees.Wish me luck.

Last thing - Albert Pujols.Coming to Wrigley next Thursday for 4 games.Wow.

April 09, 2009

The Cubs came out like North Carolina did against Michigan State, only it was my favorite team in all sports doing the big damage early.

They batted around, they hit homers, they scored lots of runs, they took the heart out of the Astros.

And then let 'em back in the game.

We've already spoken about Ted Lilly and his slow start last year.

I figure he'll have a couple games like that before he gets it together.

No biggie.

Lou said something like he picked the right night to give up all those Astro homers.

And young David Patton - I figure it's a good sign he gives up the homer and doesn't get rattled.

Kosuke with the bat wide awake.

Last two words: Mike Fontenot.

Okay, day off.

I'm going to try and not panic about Soto's shoulder.

ps: This will be the first, I'm sure, of many "I hate the Astros" pages. If I get time I'll try to submit this bit of sophisticated poetry over to the guys at Bardball. If you haven't, go check that site out. Poetry and baseball go together pretty dang good.

April 08, 2009

They're the bats that, when they break, they break into a bunch of shards and go flying all over the place scaring the crap out of the pitcher and infielders.

Every time it happens I think man, how can anybody keep track of the ball with all that stuff flying around?

Last night I had this thought.

Please indulge me, and I'M NOT ACCUSING ANYBODY OF ANYTHING.

I'm just thinking out loud based on the circumstances of last night's winning hit.

Say you're a newly acquired weak-hitting infielder, and through a strange set of circumstances you find yourself about to go up to the plate with the bases loaded with one out and the Cubs infield playing in to keep the guy on third from scoring on a ground ball.

Wouldn't it be awesome if you could choose a bat that would explode upon contact?

With all the distracting bat pieces flying everywhere, wouldn't you think you'd have a better shot at getting the ball past an infielder?

Since these bats are everywhere and exploding all the time, who would think you'd ever try to explode your bat on purpose?

Probably just a little starter-cut with a sharp saw could make the odds of your bat exploding go way up.

Ahh, probably that's a nutty thought as I'm sure when a bat breaks, the energy transferred to the ball is diminished significantly, and there's even less chance of it getting past the infield.

Right?

Like I said, just thinking out loud.

Okay, so the Cubs lose 2-3 to the Astros in 10 innings.

That's fine.

What's not fine is Geo Soto left the game in the 6th with some kind of pain in his arm after trying to throw a guy out at 2nd.

April 07, 2009

Man, what more could you ask for?Everything you wanted to see you saw.The Soriano lead-off homer.Lefy-righty bats working.Big Z looked a little befuddled til he settled down and dominated for a couple innings at least.Wins his first Opening Day.The bullpen working in the order Lou envisioned, H-Power with the clutch pinch hit.How about Mike Fontenot with the 3 for 4?Theriot going the opposite way (the one play by Berkman was robbery).Didn't need to see the ankle tweak by Bradley, but...Overall, just wow.Okay, another 160 games like that, please.Last thing.It was Olson's birthday.He's a producer so he's got the i-phone going.He gets a birthday message from his brother Derek.It says, "Happy Birthday. The best 7 words around..."He'd attached a video of his radio with Pat Hughes announcing, "Chicago Cubs baseball is on the air!"I thought "man, I love baseball."

April 05, 2009

6:05 PM, April 6, 2009.It's a fresh start, a brand new day, the born-on date at the bottom of the bottle.It's also the 10th Opening Day for the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park, where I'm pretty sure they'll have the roof open since it'll be 65 and sunny, where I'm pretty sure it'll be sold out, and where I'm positive they have a stupid train and a stupid ramp in center.Roy Oswalt will throw the first pitch of the new season to Alfonso Soriano, and poof - we'll all be back on Lou's bus hopefully taking us to October.I did this illustration for Vine Line and it ran 2 months ago, but I really wanted to save it for today.Because Opening Day is always the one filled with the most hope, and I've got a ton of it in me for this season.Go Cubs.

Ouch.Pretty sure nobody took any souvenirs from this New York trip, especially from Joe Girardi.In the last spring training or exhibition game or whatever that was yesterday, the Cubs got creamed by the Yankees 1-10.Rich Harden gave up 3 homers - 2 to Mark Teixiera and one to Derek Jeter.Kosuke Fukudome had an error in center, pretty disturbing.The bullpen competition had it's final showing with Patton giving up a hit and 2 walks in one inning, Gaudin and Guzman giving up nothin in one each, Samardzija giving up nothin in 2/3rds, and Viscaino giving up 3 hits with a homer and 2 runs in 1/3rd.Soriano was the only positive thing yesterday, going 3 for 4 with a homer.Otherwise, pretty awful.So lets forget that and concentrate on April 6th, 2009.Say it with me now: "Baseball season is finally here."

Cubby-Blue

is a sports and art blog following the Chicago Cubs with cartoons, gifs, animations, and illustrations by Chicago artist Tim Souers.
I began the illustrations in 2003 - you can find the links to the 2003 - 2006 seasons below.
2007 - present is in the regular archives.
Feel free to contact me at CubbyDashBlue(at)gmail(dot)com.
Thanks for visting, and go Cubs.

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